


Seven Birds, Though Not The Same

by dicehoard



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Role Swap, the Davenchurch is implied more than anything, the birds get switched around a whole bunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 13:23:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13459149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dicehoard/pseuds/dicehoard
Summary: I saw all of existence, all at once. I saw a dark storm, a living hunger, eating it from within. But I saw a brilliant light heralded by seven birds flying tirelessly from the storm. I saw seven birds:The Lover, The Protector, The Archivist, The Captain, The Peacemaker, The Lonely Sister and The Wordless One.





	Seven Birds, Though Not The Same

When someone leaves your life, those exits are not made equal. Some are beautiful, and poetic, and satisfying. Others are… abrupt and unfair, but most are just unremarkable, unintentional, clumsy. Where Davenport went, he didn’t intend to end up there and he certainly didn't intend to spend as much time away as he did. But from Merle’s perspective? Davenport was there, and then the next day he wasn't. And they all searched for him—Merle tirelessly, painfully so—but he was nowhere to be found. And all they had to go on was a note that he left behind on the kitchen table. And its two-word message offered no clues to his whereabouts, but simply a promise that was left unfulfilled: ‘Back soon’.

 

\--

 

Lup sits in Lucretia’s quarters late at night, flicking tirelessly through her journals with only the light from Fisher’s tank to read by. She spends days doing this, setting aside some, while returning the rest to the shelf. And when she finishes, she “borrows” a quill and a large well of black ink that have been left on the desk - Lucretia wouldn’t mind, she never does - and begins writing. She writes and she writes, copying down all that has happened into her own account of what happened, making sure not to gloss over any important details. This had to be perfect, and she would make it so.

She spends weeks in these quarters, so much so that she is found there more often than her own. When Barry asks what it is that’s so important, she makes a flippant remark about it being their lives. And he accepts it, taking it as just another of his girlfriend’s jokes. But no, she was serious - the papers she held were a detailed account of their mission, that which had indeed been their lives for so long.

 

\--

 

It’s the second year of their stay, the sun high and stretching across the sky. Magnus and Taako are spending the afternoon playing a card game, one that they had become familiar with during one of the more quiet cycles. They’ve played several games, Magnus trying to win against Taako and his unrivaled poker face. In the middle of a round, Magnus suddenly slaps a hand down onto his thigh, a realisation clear on his face.

“Holy shit,” he says. “I think it’s my birthday?”

“What really?”

“Yeah! Oh my god, this makes me… Wait, do we count the years we repeated? Oh my god, we’re going to get older now!” He sounds excited at the prospect, but Taako does not quite seem so enthused.

“Oh god, we’re going to get older now.”

They spend a few minutes laughing, poking fun at all the wrinkles and grey hairs they’re going to get - nevermind that it will take Taako a lot longer. After the laughter has died down, Magnus speaks again, this time in a more subdued voice.

“Do you think that we’ll be able to have a normal life after this? I mean, I don’t think there’s like… a rule book or anything that says we can’t but…”

“Maggie,” Taako starts, before breaking off with a sigh. “Why would you want a normal life? Do you really think you can go from fighting a power bear to… what, making chairs? Fuck that. Do something interesting for once, my dude. Like, I dunno, go off and start collecting something dumb just to wave it in their faces.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. What would I collect though?” And as he rattles through a few suggestions, each one weirder than the other, he sees Taako drop his cards. He blinks and swipes a sleeve at his eyes and looks around, his breath coming out in quick, sharp bursts. And he says,

“Yeah, that’s - Wait… Wait… Where am I? Who the hell are you? You’re… Magnus? What the fuck?”

Magnus looks at this panicked elf in front of him, and he wants to help him but... He can’t remember who he is. And he looks out of the window, and is he in the sky? He finds himself clutching at memories that have been ripped away from him as he tries desperately to remember why he’s there.

His memories, the training exercises on the beach, his battles over the years, the family that he had fought alongside, they’re fading. Everything’s fading. The world is coming down around him and he is lost.

“Who  _ are  _ you?” He asks and the elf in front of him sobs.

“I’m… I’m… Taako? I’m Taako. From - From - I’m Taako?”

Everything is static.

 

\--

 

Lucretia and Merle are on the deck of the Starblaster. Merle works tirelessly over a map, a dozen pins scattered across it as he tries to track the known locations of the Oculus, all the places that he’s tried to find Davenport. He’s so tired, and it shows in how sometimes he’ll lose focus and simply stare at the world below.

“Are you alright, Merle?” Lucretia asks, startling him out of his distracted state.

“Oh yeah, yeah. Anyway so, I had Barry do some searching and there’s this dungeon out past the Felicity Wilds.” And he explains about the keep they’ve found and the energy coming off of it.

“I’ll come with you,” Lucretia says with a smile, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “He was my friend too.”

“Lucretia,” Merle says. “What if he’s just gone?”

And after a beat of silence, she asks,

“Who?”

“Lucretia? ‘Cretia, I’m…”

“What if who’s gone?”

“What are we…? Oh my god, I can’t remember his face. Where- Is this Fisher?”

And they feel it too - Lucretia forgetting her struggle to escape the Judges’ capture, her years detailing the cycles they worked through, her home that she had left behind for this mission. And Merle forgets his time on the beach, his conversations with John and his time with the First Church of Fungston.

He drops to his knees, hands clasping together as a silent prayer finds itself on his lips. His form begins to blur, smoke rising off of his form until he fades into nothingness, taken away by the power of Parlay.

Lucretia is left staring at the vaguely dwarf-like outline in the middle of the deck and she staggers back, falling to the ground with the rail up behind her. And she realises that she doesn’t know who that is. She doesn’t know where she is, or how she got here.

Everything is static.

 

\--

 

Barry is worried about Lup. She’s been spending so much time in Lucretia’s quarters, which wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the fact that he knew she was alone in there. So he takes it upon himself to try and cheer her up, willing to drag her out of there if he must.

He walks in and sees her bathed in the light of Fisher’s tank and when she turns, she has tears in her eyes. And behind her, floating in the tank and wrapped in Fisher’s tendrils, is a thick red book bound with gold trim. He recognises it as the journal that she had spent so long writing in and always refusing to let anyone see. He realises what is happening, only for the thought to be snatched away by the static.

“Barry, no… You weren’t supposed to see this, babe, I’m so sorry.”

“Lup what… What did you do?”

“Babe, please - this is only for a little while, I’m gonna fix things. I’m gonna find you a nice science-place somewhere and you… It’s just for a little bit, and then I’ll come back and you’ll remember and it’ll be fine.”

“Who… Who are you?”

“I can do this, Barry, please just… Lie down, if you fall then you could hurt yourself. I love you, so much, but I have to do this. I’m sorry, it won’t take long. I love you.”

Barry looks up at this beautiful woman, tears rolling down her cheeks, and knows that he loves her. He just can’t remember why.

Everything is static.

 

\--

 

Not all exits are made equal.

Lup didn’t intend to spend as much time as she did away from them, saving the world. But she couldn’t live with the cost of what the seven of they had done to the world. She could not sit idly by as the world killed itself while in pursuit of the weapons they had created. But most of all, she couldn’t handle how the destruction they caused had changed them. She couldn’t bear their sorrow, their pain, their guilty; how it had made them miserable and distanced from the world. She could change it. Before her work could begin, she had to make sure her family was safe and happy.

She took Barry to a laboratory with state of the art equipment. She knew he would flourish there, given time to work with the resources that it could give him. He was content and in the years that followed, he thrived in that lab. She would visit when times were tough, but always keeping her distance. When he spotted her from across the room, he was filled with warmth but also a sense of loss. And yet he could never approach her and ask why.

Magnus’ home was the easiest to find. She found the best woodworking shop in the world, built high atop the Pillars of Raven’s Roost. She found him a home, humble but cozy, with a spacious studio outfitted with everything a craftsman might need. In time, he’d be invited to take a residency at the Hammer and Tongs, and the years that followed would be filled with joy beyond measure.

Until they weren’t.

Lucretia was another easy task, though not quite so easy as Magnus. She found her a place in a prestigious academy, one with a fully stocked library. Lucretia worked for many years in the archives, where she stayed for years, happy and surrounded by the information that she always sought out.

Lup does not hear about the fire that destroys the academy, leaving Lucretia to make her own way in the world.

Merle was gone, lost in some unknown Parlay space and yet to return. It was a source of constant distress for Lup. Was he still there, trapped in that pocket dimension with no memory of how he got there or why? Or was he dead, killed by whoever it was that he called there? She didn’t know.

And Davenport was just gone. In her limited spare time, she looked. She looked everywhere. But Davenport was nowhere to be found and if he was truly lost, it was another reason to forget. She found herself missing her Captain’s absence. How hard would it be for those he was truly close to?

What happened to her brother was the most challenging side effect. She had made sure to write down everything that had mattered, to leave no detail untouched. But in doing so, she had poured her heart out. She had written about her brother, her love for him and how their lives were so closely intertwined. And in doing so, she managed to wipe it all away, leaving him a shell of who he once was. Most days, he could only say his own name. She would keep him close and ensure his safety herself.

And though she tried to find happiness for her family, Lup found little happiness for herself. She recovered Barry’s relic easily enough, simply destroying the liches that held it. In pursuing her own, though, her journey nearly met its end as she was betrayed by someone that she had so foolishly trusted, a dwarf by the name of Cyrus Rockseeker. She was lucky, in that he had not coated his blade with poison, instead stealing the gauntlet and fleeing. While she still had her lich form to fall back on, it had been too close a call. She needed help.

She recruited the scientists from the lab that she had set Barry in, having them build her a headquarters in the sky so that she could form the Bureau of Orderly Balance. In exchange, she inoculated them, taught them what she knew of the planes, advanced their research in binding souls into robotic forms with the help of a crystal she had recovered from the robot kingdom they had discovered so many decades ago.

And the Bureau thrived. She installed a series of checks and balances among its members, hoping it would counteract the temptation built into these relics. But it wasn't enough. Without fail, her Reclaimers were lost to the thrall of the grand relics, one by one. And Lup was tormented by these failures, by how long this was taking, by how distant she felt from her family. Few people who have lived have ever experienced such loneliness, such hopelessness.

It was Fisher who provided a way out: a child. A second Voidfish, one that offered a redundancy that could, once and for all, help her gather the relics and attempt to destroy the hunger. The only people who could recover the relics without succumbing to them were the people who made them in the first place. They could drink from the first fish and learn about the relics, learn just enough to let them recover them, while the second fish could continue suppressing the truth of their origins. They would know enough to find the relics, but not enough to know that they made them. She could finally bring them in. She could finally bring them home.

She has Barry inoculated first, though she keeps the majority of their memories together hidden. He simply knows that they were once close and from there, their relationship flourishes once more.

Before she can send someone to find Magnus and Lucretia, they show up on her doorstep, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet in hand. And as she stands in front of them, leaning heavily on her Umbra-staff, she felt hope for the first in a very long time.

When they were away on missions, she worried. When she came home, she rejoiced. She tried her hardest not to show it, not to give herself away - she was glad that she shared her brother’s ability to put on an unbreakable facade, though she used it for more than winning card games.

Her family is here at last. They can finally recover all of the relics and fight back against the hunger. This is it.

_ This is it. _

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up from a weird dream and immediately switched on my laptop to write it up. I haven't even been to the bathroom yet. Send help.


End file.
